TRUMP’S NOT IN THE GOV RACE
Hey, Maura Healey and Democrats — you’re actually not running against Donald Trump.
Just so you know.
The Democratic gubernatorial nominee would love to make this a contest against Trump, but he’s not on the ballot.
Yes, Healey is a huge favorite to win, but Massachusetts voters deserve a real debate between her and GOP opponent Geoff Diehl based on issues, not a personality-driven agenda. Trump will be one of the issues, but not the only one.
Taxes. Education. Vaccine mandates.
These are the some of the issues voters care about the most — not what Trump says or does.
Diehl, a former state legislator, certainly is a Trump supporter and he can’t and shouldn’t run away from that. But the former president is not a mouthpiece for Diehl.
Voters here deserve more than just a debate over “Trumpism.”
After eight years of Charlie Baker, Massachusetts is at a critical juncture.
Will the state continue with the more moderate policies of Baker, or will it turn to the extremes — either on the left or right?
Healey, the state’s attorney general for the last eight years, sued Trump nearly 100 times and has aligned herself on the left. She clearly would turn the state in that direction, but will she allow her governorship to be taken over by the extreme left wing?
Healey has in the past praised the Republican governor Baker for his bipartisanship and on Wednesday, a day after she coasted to victory in the primary, she promised to push “a message of optimism and a spirit of getting things done.”
She and her new running mate, Kim Driscoll, rejected Republican claims that they represent the “radical” left.
“We are about getting things done, we are about delivering for people and not dividing them, we are about putting people first and rising above the noise, the division, the partisanship, the politics,” she said.
If that’s true, then why did Healey spend so much taxpayer money and time filing lawsuits against Trump?
Healey and Diehl have already agreed to debate, though it’s not clear yet when and where that will happen.
Diehl, in a press conference in West Roxbury, said he planned to talk about parental rights in the schools and will support a referendum to repeal the Legislature’s recent law giving drivers’ licenses to immigrants here illegally.
He also pledged to do away with vaccine mandates and hire all the state workers who lost their jobs because of the mandates.
Diehl would be wise to push the agenda he sketched out and stay away from getting involved in an argument over Trump. And Healey would be smart to embrace more moderate policies and stand up to Democratic lawmakers if they try to mess with the 1986 law known as Chapter 62F, which should kick in this year and give back taxpayers nearly $3 billion in refunds or rebates.